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31, July 2017

Yaounde: Francophone Minister signs order renaming Southern Cameroons territory ⁰

The Minister of Youth and Civic Education, Mounouna Foutsou has in a circular to the heads of various departments in his ministry renamed Southern Cameroons territory. The Francophone member of government also ordered his subordinates to attach strict observance to his instruction. The ministerial order stated that the South West and North West regions shall no longer to refer to as the Anglophone regions but simply North West and South West with the French appellation region du sud-ouest and region du nord-ouest being authentic.

Minister Foutsou’ order has been interpreted by members of the Cameroon Anglophone Civil Society Consortium as an insult to the people of West Cameroon. Nothing has so far come out of the Star Building following the publication of the circular at this delicate time in our country’s history.

In time, Southern Cameroons MPs and members of government including Prime Minister Philemon Yang have swallowed their pride and acceded. But for Southern Cameroonians in the struggle, denied a viable part of their identity has gone a long way to energize the sense of injustice festered over three generations and will be a major factor in the battle for secession.

Biya and his Francophone regime have offered many, sometimes contradictory, rationales for the rapes, extra judicial killings and arrests in Southern Cameroons ever since the revolution started. But this recent action by the Youth and Civil Education minister will of course have far reaching consequences.

By Rita Akana
Cameroon Concord News

31, July 2017

UK-EU freedom of movement will end in 2019 ⁰

UK government ministers have said that the free movement of people between Britain and the European Union will end in March 2019. UK Immigration Minister Brandon Lewis told the BBC that the government is “very clear” that “free movement of labor ends when we leave the European Union in the spring of 2019.”

It was a “simple matter of fact” that EU free movement rules would not apply after 2019, Lewis said. Home Secretary Amber Rudd said after March 2019, EU workers moving to Britain will have to register, at least until a permanent post-Brexit immigration policy is implemented.

Rudd said the “implementation phase” would involve new EU workers registering their details when they come to the UK.” “We will ensure we continue to attract those who benefit us economically, socially and culturally,” she added.

“But, at the same time, our new immigration system will give us control of the volume of people coming here – giving the public confidence we are applying our own rules on who we want to come to the UK and helping us to bring down net migration to sustainable levels.”

The UK is currently due to leave the EU at the end of March 2019. Immigration was one of the central topics of last year’s Brexit referendum, which resulted in 52 percent of voters voting in favor of leaving the EU.

British finance minister Philip Hammond said Friday that the Brexit transition could last until 2022 and the UK will try to keep as many aspects of its EU membership in place as possible.

UK and EU negotiators held their first full round of Brexit talks earlier this month. The European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier says that both sides still have “fundamental” differences remaining.

Brexit Secretary David Davis said last week that there is a “moral imperative” to reach a quick deal on the rights of EU nationals living in Britain and UK citizens in the bloc.

Source: Presstv

31, July 2017

Kenya: 2 killed in attack on deputy president’s home ⁰

Two people have been killed in an attack on Kenyan Deputy President William Ruto’s residence, police say, days before the African country’s next presidential election on August 8.

A gunman and a police officer were killed on Saturday night after police engaged in a shootout with the attacker outside Ruto’s house in the western town of Eldoret, a senior administrator said Sunday. The attack left another guard injured.

Police said Ruto, who is the running mate of President Uhuru Kenyatta in the upcoming vote, and his family were not home during the gunfire.

“From the exchange of fire we thought it was more than one attacker, because he used different firearms, but after we subdued him, we found only one man dead, plus our officer who he had killed,” Rift Valley regional coordinator Wanyama Musiambo, told reporters.

Further investigation showed that the attacker was unarmed first but was able to use a range of weapons by breaking into the police armory after making his way into the compound.

“After the operation we discovered that it was one gunman, but because he was inside there, he could change position and firearms because he had access to the guns. And the guns he was using were ours,” Musiambo said.

Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta (R), flanked by Deputy President William Ruto, gestures during the unveiling of the Jubilee Party’s manifesto in Nairobi, June 26, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

Police were still looking for more clues to see whether the attacker was alone or had help, the official noted. Ruto addressed the attack in a tweet, offering condolences to the family of the fallen guard. Police had initially said that the attacker was wielding a machete and holed himself up in an outbuilding after injuring one police officer. Kenyatta’s office said in a statement that Ruto had spent the day campaigning with the president.

Decades-long power struggle

The August 8 election will see Kenyatta and the ruling Jubilee Party defend their throne against Raila Odinga, who was Prime Minister of Kenya from 2008 to 2013. Odinga has been endorsed by the National Super Alliance (NASA), a group of five opposition parties.

The Odinga and Kenyatta families have been involved in a power struggle since 1966, three years after the country’s independence from the UK.

Source: Presstv

30, July 2017

Senegal votes after tense election campaign ⁰

Senegalese voters cast ballots Sunday to elect a new parliament, a test run for President Macky Sall ahead of a 2019 presidential election and after a campaign marred by violence and tensions. Most of the 14,000 polling stations opened at 8:00 am (0800 GMT) but there were delays in several places after some sites were hit by a violent overnight storm, local media reported.

Polling ends at 6:00 pm and the first results are expected early Monday. More than 6.2 million people in the west African nation are registered to vote. Sall is seeking to bolster his parliamentary majority as he eyes a second term, while his predecessor Abdoulaye Wade, 91, attempts to drum up support for his own list of candidates and for his son, Karim, who is waiting in the wings with eyes on the top job.

“We aren’t talking any longer about July 30, but of 2019,” Prime Minister Mahammed Boun Abdallah Dionne, who is running for a seat with Sall’s coalition, declared at a rally.

In a sign of growing tensions, Interior Minister Abdoulaye Daouda Diallo banned inter-regional travel on Sunday until midnight. Sall’s other main opponent, Dakar Mayor Khalifa Sall (no relation), is in jail awaiting trial for what supporters say are politically motivated embezzlement charges.

The mayor had been seen as a key contender for 2019 and a potential threat to the president in parliament until he was charged in March with allegedly misappropriating 1.83 billion CFA francs ($2.85 million, 2.7 million euros) in city funds.

There are a record 47 lists of candidates contesting the election, with 165 lawmakers due to take seats in parliament. Fifteen seats are being set aside for Senegalese expatriates – the first time that the country’s diaspora, estimated at half a million, will have direct representation.

‘Violent clashes’

Police have fired tear gas and arrested dozens during at times violent campaigning that left several injured in a country normally known for its peaceful democratic traditions.

Wade attempted to campaign in a downtown square he had decreed a restricted zone while still president in 2011, an area just meters from the presidential palace. He was pushed back by security forces, leading to several arrests.

Campaigning was marred by tragedy on July 15 when eight people were killed as rival supporters clashed during Senegal’s League Cup final, and a stampede caused a wall to fall on escaping fans.

Police gesture to people near Independence Square in Dakar on July 25, 2017 as they disperse supporters of the former Senegalese president gathered for an unauthorized rally. (Photo by AFP)

Controversy also erupted over the failure to deliver enough new biometric ID cards needed to vote, which hundreds of thousands of Senegalese have not received in time. The president asked Senegal’s constitutional council to relax the voting rules so people without the cards could use passports or other forms of identification to cast their ballots, along with proof they had applied for the IDs.

Several political parties and opposition coalitions angrily denounced the last-minute move, saying it increased the possibility of fraud. Tit-for-tat arguments between President Sall and former president Wade’s camps have also erupted over the length of motorways and number of bridges built under their respective tenures.

Wade has accused Sall of “destroying” Senegal, while the president’s side say Wade did not do enough to develop the nation while in power, boasting of their achievements in building a new airport and other infrastructure projects.

(Source: AFP)

30, July 2017

Will Trump survive the ‘worst week’ of his presidency? ⁰

US President Donald Trump has just had one of the worst weeks of his presidency, highlighted by humiliating attacks against his attorney general, infighting among White House advisers, a major change of staff, and the failure to overhaul the healthcare system.

The backlash started last week when Trump publicly humiliated Attorney General Jeff Sessions as “very weak,” hoping the top lawyer would buckle under pressure and resign. Senate Republicans were quick to come to their former colleague’s defense, urging Sessions to stand his ground. They forced Trump to back off by threatening to block any effort to replace Sessions.

The president is furious that Sessions recused himself from the ongoing investigation into the alleged collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign. However, experts say going to these lengths to verbally abuse the attorney general betrays Trump’s sense of frustration with his inability to shut down a probe that has bedeviled his presidency.

This file photo taken on June 13, 2017 shows Attorney General Jeff Sessions during a Senate hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.

Then came the bizarre series of tweets declaring that the US military would no longer accept transgender personnel, practically attempting to change military policy on Twitter without notifying his military generals. Trump’s surprise declaration, which appeared to pre-empt an ongoing Pentagon review into the issue, drew sharp rebuke from the nation’s senior officers.

“I hope our commander in chief understands that we don’t transmit orders via Twitter, and that he can’t, either,” a senior officer told Reuters on the condition of anonymity. “Even if this were an order, implementing it legally would take considerable time, if it’s even possible.”

America’s top military officer, Marine General Joseph Dunford, told the armed forces on Thursday there had been no change to the current policy.

Congressional Republicans also backed the president into a corner by their veto-proof passage of legislation to impose new sanctions on Russia, undercutting Trump’s efforts to improve relations with the Cold War adversary. Knowing that a Trump veto would be easily overridden, the White House announced that the president intended to sign the bill, which also includes sanctions on Iran and North Korea.

The turmoil spilled into public when Trump’s new communications director, Anthony Scaramucci, launched an obscenity-laced rant against then chief of staff Reince Priebus. In a sign that major change was needed, Trump then terminated Priebus and installed Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to take command.

This combination of pictures shows John Kelly (L) and Reince Priebus

Above all, Trump suffered his biggest legislative setback to date, when three Senate Republicans joined their Democratic colleagues in rejecting a measure to replace and repeal Obamacare. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, whose recent medical procedure had delayed a vote on health care, sided with Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and effectively killed the so-called “skinny repeal” package.

Hill staffers braced themselves for Trump to take out his anger on McCain, a former Trump antagonist, but the president surprisingly kept his cool on that front. Instead, he warned the entire Congress that healthcare “bailouts” for insurers and lawmakers would soon end unless they pass legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

John McCain (R-AZ) arrives for work on Capitol Hill hours after voting NO on the GOP’s health care plan, July 28, 2017. (Photo by AFP)

“If a new HealthCare Bill is not approved quickly, BAILOUTS for Insurance Companies and BAILOUTS for Members of Congress will end very soon!” Trump tweeted Saturday afternoon.

Strategists are wondering whether this past week would mark the beginning of Republicans standing up to a president, whose run for the White House they so reluctantly backed in the first place.

“Anyone in a position of responsibility in GOP politics is quickly losing patience with President Trump,” Alex Conant, a Republican strategist and former adviser to Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, told The New York Times. “The dysfunction is beyond strange; it’s dangerous.”

“If Trump’s poll numbers were above 50 percent,” Conant continued, “healthcare reform would have passed. Instead, he’s spent more time responding to cable-TV chatter than rallying support for his agenda.”

Source: Presstv

30, July 2017

Alphose Tchami gets warm welcome at Buenos Aires ⁰

Alphonse Tchami was accorded a hero’s welcome by the supporters and leaders of Buca juniors, the mythical club of the Argentinean capital, Buenos Aires.

The 46-year-old former Cameroonian striker had defended the colors of Boca juniors in two sports seasons, precisely between 1995 and 1997, with a record of 11 goals in 48 games. Beyond this record, the fans remember his decisive goals scored during high stake matches.

Tchami is the first African to play in the Argentinean championship, “Negro” alongside legend Diego Maradona.

Returning to Argentina 20 years after his departure, Alphonse Tchami was welcomed on Tuesday 26 July 2017 in La Bombonera, the magic stadium of the club and at the presidential palace by President Mauricio Macri, former general president of Boca juniors.

After a rich career that took him to South America and Europe, Alphonse Tchami has been for the last two years the Team Manager of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon.

By Chi Prudence Asong with files from Cameroon Info.Net

30, July 2017

“Cameroon among African countries that have improved the quality of their policies” ⁰

The review is the annual World Bank Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) Africa analysis, which scores the progress Sub-Saharan African countries are making on strengthening the quality of their policies and institutions. CPIA ratings have been used to determine the allocation of zero-interest financing and grants for countries that are eligible for support from the International Development Association (IDA), the concessional financing arm of the World Bank Group.

CPIA scores are based on 16 development indicators in four areas: economic management, structural policies, policies for social inclusion and equity, and public sector management and institutions. Countries are rated on a scale of 1 (low) to 6 (high) for each indicator. The overall CPIA score reflects the average of the four areas of the CPIA. Cameroon is one of the countries in sub-saharan Africa that have improved the quality of policies and institutions (CPIA) in 2016, according to the World Bank report published this month of July 2017.

On the upside, Côte d’Ivoire, the Comoros, Cameroon, Guinea, Madagascar, Mauritania, and Sudan have experienced a modest gain in the CPIA score, with most of these countries showing a stronger performance in the quality of governance. In a few countries, the quality of policies for social inclusion and equity also improved, reflecting a strengthening of safety net programs.

In the company of Côte d’ivoire, the Comoros, Guinea, Madagascar, Mauritania and Sudan, Cameroon scored 0.1 points in comparison with the previous year, which made the country obtain a score of 3.2 out of a total of six points available. The required average of 3.1 points, Cameroon by its performance, remains an eligible country in support of the International Development Association (IDA), the concessional financing window of the World Bank Group.

Published each year, the CPIA report assigns a note to each of the countries eligible for IDA support. The notes of the CPIA, which reflect the quality of a country’s political and institutional framework, consist of 16 criteria in four groups, namely economic management (Group a), structural policies (Group B), policies to combat social exclusion and the promotion of equity (Group C) and the management of public sector institutions (Group D).
In these different categories, Cameroon obtained the following notes: 3.5 points, 3.2 points, 3.1 points and 3.0 points respectively. With a score of 4, Rwanda is once again at the top of the ranking. It is closely followed by the Senegal and Kenya both get 3.8.

Source: Cameroon Info.Net

29, July 2017

Far North region: 5 killed in Boko Haram blast ⁰

Five people, including four suicide bombers and one civilian, were killed on Friday morning in an attack attributed to the Nigerian Islamic sect, Boko Haram, Cameroon Concord News has learnt from security sources in Maroua, the chief city in the Far North region.

We also gathered that another suicide bombing carried out by Boko Haram occurred 24 hours after the deaths of two gendarmes in the Sagme district of Fotokol (Logone-et-Chari), near the border with Nigeria.

By Eyong Johnson
Camcordnews

29, July 2017

US, allies kicked up a fuss about Iran space launch ⁰

Three European allies of the US have engaged in rhetoric against Iran after the country successfully tested a satellite-launch rocket, urging Tehran to halt all its missile activities. “We condemn this action,” read a joint statement by Britain, France, Germany and the US on Friday, claiming the test is in breach of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which was adopted in July 2015 to endorse Iran’s nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Actions (JCPOA), with six world powers.

“Iran’s program to develop ballistic missiles continues to be inconsistent with UNSCR 2231 and has a destabilizing impact in the region. We call on Iran not to conduct any further ballistic missile launches and related activities,” the statement added. Resolution 2231 calls on Iran “not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology.”

Tehran insists its missile tests and rocket launches do not breach any UN resolution, because they are solely for defense purposes and not designed to carry nuclear warheads. Earlier on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said “every word” of the nuclear deal has been carefully negotiated, adding, “Iran does not develop missiles that are designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons.”

The statement by the US and its European allies came a day after Washington described the successful satellite-carrying rocket launch as “a provocative action,” accusing Iran of violating UN Security Council resolutions.
Since his inauguration on January 20, US President Donald Trump has adopted a hostile policy towards Iran. He has repeatedly vowed to cancel the nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries, including the US. Trump’s administration has also imposed new sanctions on multiple Iranian individuals and entities.

On Thursday, Iran launched its domestically-manufactured Simorgh carrier, whose mission is to put Iranian satellites into orbit. The launch was carried out from the Imam Khomeini Space Center in the central Iranian province of Semnan. Simorgh, named after a bird in Persian mythology, is capable of placing a satellite weighing up to 250 kilograms in an orbit of 500 kilometers.

Designed and developed with the latest standards in mind, Iran’s new space rocket can carry satellites weighing up to 250 kilograms (550 pounds) about 500 kilometers (310 miles) away, well within the Low Earth Orbit (LEO).
The rocket, Iran’s largest to date, will be used to launch the domestically-built Earth observation satellite Tolou (Sunrise) in the near future. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani hailed the successful test-launch, saying such scientific achievements boost the Islamic Republic’s power and grandeur.

Iran’s Defense Minister ‎Hossein Dehqan, who accompanied Rouhani at the space center on Thursday, told reporters that the spaceport acted as a “command and control site” that could track and control satellites at all times.
He noted that the center was already capable of launching satellites to higher orbits of up to 1,000 kilometers. Iran launched its first locally-built satellite, Omid (Hope), in 2009. The country also sent its first bio-capsule containing living creatures into space in February 2010, using Kavoshgar (Explorer)-3 carrier.

In February 2015, Iran placed the domestically-made Fajr (Dawn) satellite into orbit. The satellite is capable of taking and transmitting high-quality and accurate pictures to stations on Earth. Simorgh’s launch came as the US Congress passed new sanctions against Iran over its development of missiles for defensive purposes. The bill, which also includes sanctions against Russia and North Korea, awaits US President Donald Trump’s approval.

Source: Presstv

28, July 2017

54 people injured in Barcelona train crash ⁰

A commuter train crashed into a buffer in Barcelona’s Francia terminus on Friday morning, injuring at least 54 people, one of them seriously, emergency services said on Friday. The force of the crash crumpled the front of the train against the buffer and detached a sheet of metal.

Twenty of the injured, including the driver, were taken to hospital, emergency services said, while paramedics treated others on stretchers on the platform. They had previously put the number of the injured at 39.

Many of the passengers were already standing, ready to get off, when the train crashed, the newspaper La Vanguardia reported.

The train was coming from the village of Sant Vicenc de Calders in the province of Tarragona on the R2 line of the Rodalies commuter rail service, emergency services said. The state-run railway company Adif said an investigation had been opened.

(Source: Reuters)